And now Kors was sure that from the very beginning Nikto-demon knew who was in front of him. He knew that Kors was the father of the shell, and cynically used it, pretending to be a lamb, pushing on paternal feelings of Kors, and inside mocking how Kors behaved. How he felt, seeing his boy, his eyes down, a little naive, but sincerely trying to answer the questions. And he was already sitting on a chair at the table, already smoking a cigarette. What next? If Kors really believed him and admitted his son, he would open, hug him with tears. What would happen then? He didn’t know, and this question tormented him. Where did he make a mistake? Then, when he entered into open confrontation? Not succumbed, and moreover, answered with a blow? What would happen to Karina now if he tried to find some compromise, tried to negotiate with the demon, maybe make a deal, in exchange for the safety of his girl? He was too confident in his strength, and Nikto looked so weak, humble and submissive. And Niko deceived him and struck with a death blow. With this blow he killed both Karina and Kors himself. And Kors didn’t know what to do.
In front of him was the mask of Nikto and the ring of the Kors family.
Chapter four
Forest
Karina opened her eyes because the wind blew around her face. Recovering, she jumped up, looking around in surprise, and not believing her eyes. They were in the forest. Karina stood on the ground with young green grass, and the setting sun beautifully illuminated a small, cozy forest lake.
“Portal… Nik! Was it a Portal? Gods! How did you manage to find it? Feel? Open finally! Or does it open there itself periodically? You didn’t seem to do anything… Although, if to believe this story with Rosa, you have already dealt with Portals…”
Nikto was sitting nearby on the grass, as if stunned, the last rays of the setting sun hit him directly in the eye, but he didn’t squint or turn away, didn’t try to move aside. From this Karina made a disappointing conclusion that he was still blind.
“Gods! Well, when will you normalize? When will you recover?!”
He shook his head in the negative and lay down on the grass.
This gesture scared her:
“Will you stay that way?! Don’t scare me like that, brother! Arel will kill me if I don’t return you safe and sound! We need to understand where to move now…”
Seeing a small hill nearby, Karina decided to climb it and look around if possible. It was not clear where they this portal threw them. Was it generally not harmful to the body? She heard somewhere that people were going crazy using portals, dying of a broken heart. What if they’re generally somewhere in the western limit, where there are a lot of “unclean” colonies, or forests for many kilometers around! And Nikto gotnumb not in time!
“I'll go, look around a bit,” she announced to him her actions. He didn’t even move, continuing to lie on the ground on his side, his eyelids with traces of a black paint half-covered. Oh, how out of place and unsuccessfully all this happened to him! Karina didn’t even want to think about the fact that he might not recover and will remain so.
She climbed a pine-covered hill and was relieved to see the pointed spires of the town in the distance. Well, they were at a safe distance, but not as far as she was afraid. Apparently, the stimulant introduced by her continued its action, because Karina was overcome by a thirst for further activity.
